3.13.2004
Another Oil Coupe?
I'm going to get back to dissecting the news; I have been reading a bunch about the Constitution, the separation of powers between the branches of our government, executive, legislative and judicial and find I need a great deal of background to do justice to the piece on Presidential Executive Orders I have been planning. I wish my brain worked optimally- researching this to do well with it is taking a great deal of time...
I see that my comments system is down; I will see to fixing that presently. My apologies, I spend more time researching and writing this than attending to my e-mails; I must have missed any warning the comment company sent me...
Another Oil Coup?
We covered the case of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the oil rich dictator of Equatorial Guinea, an African country that may account for 25% of US oil imports by the year 2015 in a February 2 '04 posting. In the post I wondered aloud how long it would be before US service people would be "liberating" this oil producing "friend" of the US government, much like the overthrow of the government of Reagan/Bush1 friend, Saddam Hussein. The link is lengthy, but offers a good amount of background information about Republican US government support of Saddam, history that has seemingly been forgotten even though present administration folks such as Donald Rumsfeld were principle players in the financial and military backing of the bloody dictator through widened US trade and sales of high tech weaponry.
It seems that Obiang, as he is titled in news releases, may have been slated, much like Chavez in Venezuela and Aristide in Haiti for a coup. There seems to have been US involvement in this attempted coup as well.
Some of the priciple players in this thwarted coup have longstanding ties to South African private mercenary companies, as well as to both US (CIA) and British (MI6) intelligence services. The mercenaries arrested in Zimbabwe have implicated the Spanish government as well. Equatorial Guinea was, until its independence 36 years ago, a colony of Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has had meetings recently with Severo Moto,self declared "President-in-Exile", the fellow slated to fill the power gap created by Obiang's violent ouster. Moto had been exiled to Spain from Angola for plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea in 1997.
The mercenaries were caught in a sting operation as they attempted to collect 180,000 dollars worth of already paid for weapons and ammunition from Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) while landing in Zimbabwe. The arms company had informed Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) of the sale and forces were in place to arrest the soldiers of fortune as they picked up weapons including mortars and grenade launchers.
Corporate Military?
The plane carrying the would-be terrorists is registered in the US, although it had been sold to Logo Logistics, a company that claims the 64 mercenaries in transit where "security workers" heading to a mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Charles Burrow, a senior Logo Logistics executive would not name the company. Logo Logistics employs Nick Du Toit, who has confessed to his involvement in the coup attempt and has further implicated the CIA , MI6 and Spanish government.
Coup leader Simon Mann is an executive of Logo Logistics.
Mann was reportedly offered 1.8 million dollars and oil exploitation rights to pull off the coup. He and Du Toit both were involved in Executive Outcomes, mercenary group founded apartheid South Africa in 1991 in that disbanded when South Africa passed a law
criminalizing all mercenary activity. This mercenary group morphed into Sandline International and relocated its headquarters to London. The "Private Military Company" was used by the British government to ship arms to Sierra Leone, circumventing UN rules which prohibited the UK from supplying them openly.
Executive Outcomes/Sandline International seems to make a practice of mixing war-for profit with resource exploitation.
Along the lines of the Equitorial Guinea potential terrorism for oil rights we see that Sandline had a diamond connection to Sierra Leone. Executive Outcome's founder along with Simon Mann, Tony Buckingham is also a former SAS Commando.
From the same London address Sandline shares Buckingham acts as CEO of Heritage Oil and Gas, a company paid by
the government of Sierra Leone partially in mining rights for Executive Outcomes "work" . Interesting connection of seemingly disparate companies, don't you think?
Mr. Buckingham has made a killing by befriending and helping to power emergent Third World leaders.
...
Buckingham's corporate empire includes Branch Energy, Heritage Oil and Gas, and the so-called private security services, Executive Outcomes and Sandline International.
The link above shows the incestuous relationship Buckinham and his companies have with death and exploitation in third world nations. Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Angola are some others not mentioned here. A lengthy and informative read. It is beyond my reach to illustrate the web of connections these mercenary criminals are linked to. Amazing stuff though.
As my earlier piece pointed out, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is obviously another bloody tyrant, albeit on a smaller scale than earlier US favorites Suharto and Hussein. There are diplomatic measures that can be utilized to effect change
in other countries. The people of Equatorial Guinea deserve better. That a coup can occur in a country so important to both American interests at large and the interests of Bush/GOP backers such as Triton Energy, Exxon/Mobil and Chevron Texaco without US intelligence foreknowledgeis not credible. Especially in the light of the conspirators confessions.
Is placing an oil company puppet in power furthering Democracy in the world? Or is it furthering power and profit
for the many "Mr Buckinghams" and their parasitical ways?
Some food for thought:
The present White House resident, George W. Bush said this, as quoted in Israels most respected newspaper, Haaretz:
God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did...
Here is a quote from an aide to Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo:
"He can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to hell because it is God himself, with whom he is in permanent contact, and who gives him this strength,"
3/13/2004
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